220 



PHYSICAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



amid the dangers of this difficult and desolate country. Unlike many 

 wild tribes, the Hottentot did not shrink before the advance of Eu- 

 ropeans ; but readily adopting the habits of civilization, these people 

 have ever proved active and useful assistants to the colonist ; their 

 history in this respect, contrasting strongly with that of the neigh- 

 bouring: Kaffer tribes. Indeed, the advantage of the Hottentot cha- 

 racter appears to have contributed essentially to the admission of Eu- 

 ropeans into this, the only part of Africa that has proved accessible 

 to foreigners ; and the benefit deserved a better return than unequal 

 legislation. 



The following quotation, is descriptive of the wild life led by the 

 Bosjesmans of the frontier; who furnish abundant proof, that man in 

 his natural state is by no means a helpless animal. "They live 

 among rocks and woods; have a keen vivid eye, always on the alert ; 

 will spring from rock to rock, like the antelope; sleep in nests which 

 they form in the bushes, and seldom pass two nights in the same 

 place ; supporting themselves by robbery, or by catching wild ani- 

 mals, as reptiles and insects." 



Recent discoveries, have shown that the Hottentot race is more 

 widely diffused than was previously supposed ; and that it extends in 

 a scattered manner, for an unknown distance towards the heart of Af- 

 rica. According to the testimony of Owen, Morrell, and others, Hot- 

 tentot tribes occur along the Western coast, as far as latitude 20° 

 South ; and remain in some instances, still unchanged by contact 

 with Europeans. 



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